Philosophy Now Forum

Yes. If it is "best" then it is "best". This is a no brainer. Now, hold on, Gee. Hadn't we better say what we mean by "best"? Marsh doesn't specify that. And it will matter. Do we mean... a) "Best" for the whole human race? b) "Best" for an individu...

You hit the existential nail on the head. Is it possible to believe in a lie? If you know you believe in a lie then you are aware that there is something wrong and in the back of your mind there will be a gnawing question of the truth of your existence. Most people live dejectedly in worldly sorrow...

If it were ever proven scientifically that it's best for the well being of an individual, a society, and evolution to have a belief in god, then is it best to have a belief in god regardless if it is true? Or put another way can the value of believing a lie outweigh the value of knowing the truth?

HexHammer wrote:OP seems more like wishful thinking that anything else. Produces from a skitzo mind.

Na it's not wishful thinking. It's something I just started thinking about. I don't know if it's true or not. That's where you come in... but maybe not.

Why would the possibility of a duplicate brain state existing somewhere else imply that such a duplicate does in fact exist?If you bake a cake in Australia and then admit the possibility that such a cake could be baked in Russia, that is in no way an assurance that such a cake is in fact baked in R...

What you have is usually know as an emergent theory of consciousness. In other words, consciousness is an emergent property of complexity. Given enough complexity in terms of information processing then consciousness will emerge from this complexity. An infinite amount of complexity would be enough...

Why would the possibility of a duplicate brain state existing somewhere else imply that such a duplicate does in fact exist?If you bake a cake in Australia and then admit the possibility that such a cake could be baked in Russia, that is in no way an assurance that such a cake is in fact baked in R...

"2) Any computations within our brains can be represented elsewhere in an infinite number (or at least an extremely high finite number) of ways." Yes could be, but since you are mixing up infinite with finite, which is either or, and not little this little that, i'll skip to the next one....

I've been trying to work on a proof that the consciousness we're experiencing is probably not happening from our brains. Maybe someone can tell me why this won't work, refine this for me, or point me in the direction of where this has already been talked about? Here's the proof (what's in bold is th...